#tommy's treehouse

[sillystrawbtism]

Hahahaha holy SHIT i am so mentally unwell chat it's not even funny. I want to be normal. I don't want to be like this. I don't want to be HERE. I just want someone I can rely on, I've never had that. What's worse is every source memory I have is based directly on the bodies trauma, right down to exile so I'm still affected by it. I hate this I just want a family and people who care about me because it certainly doesn't feel like it. I want him back but I can't even if I know he still loves me.

-Tommy💿

[eddiegettingshot]

literally typing out my fifth or sixth post about how the breakup makes total sense if you actually pay attention and then deleting it because i cannot keep being a tommywarrior and a timwarrior like this

[lmanburgseulogy]

do you think they had a treehouse in l’manburg :(

[diazsdimples]

bucktommy + single dads au

🥺🥺 I love dad aus okay here we go

Buck is the father to 3 year old Lacey and Tommy is father to 5 year old Jacob. They meet each other at a LAFD Christmas party after Eddie and Christopher drag Buck along, and Jacob and Lacey both make a beeline for the ball pit. Buck sees Tommy standing at the edge, watching son with a mixture of fondness as the kid launches himself in repeatedly, and decides he wants to know everything about this guy. They strike up conversation.

Turns out Buck and Tommy have a lot in common, with both of them being single fathers trying to provide for their children on firefighters' salaries and no long term childcare plans. Neither Lacey nor Jacob have grandparents that are interested in their lives so they can't be relied on for childcare, and the daycare centres don't cover the night shifts Buck and Tommy need to do. They exchange numbers at the Christmas party and begin to talk a lot.

Buck has a brainwave a few weeks later (egged on by Eddie, who's no longer in need of Carla's services for Christopher) and he calls Tommy one day, suggesting that Carla could take care of Lacey and Jacob together, if Tommy drops Jacob at Buck and Lacey's house before his shifts. Lacey is very excited about having Jacob to stay, as she practically hero-worships the boy after having had a few playdates with him while Buck and Tommy chatted. Tommy is a little overwhelmed with the gesture and readily agrees.

Tommy begins to drop Jacob at Buck's house before his shifts and if Buck's home when he comes to pick him up, he and Tommy will let the kids play for a bit while they have a beer and relax and decompress about their shifts. Sometimes the kids will stay at Tommy's house if Buck has a shift and Tommy doesn't (which Lacey absolutely loves because he has a treehouse in his backyard). One evening after a particularly bad shift, Buck comes to pick up Lacey from Tommy's house and breaks down in tears - they'd lost a child on a call and it hit too close to home. Tommy distracts the kids quickly and then gathers Buck into his arms, holding him while he cries.

Their dynamic shifts after that, and they become much touchier with one another. Buck wants to be with Tommy but doesn't think Tommy likes him that way, until one day Buck explains to Tommy that Jacob had been upset about not being able to read properly, and Buck got Carla to collect some dyslexia resources for the boy and they'd been very helpful. He doesn't even get halfway through telling Tommy before the man is kissing him, fingers under his chin and hand on his hip. Tommy admits to having liked Buck and tentatively, they agree to give being in a relationship a go. Naturally the kids are absolutely delighted.

Send me a ship and an AU!!

[stevesbipanic]

@steddielovemonth Day 18: Love is terrifying @starryeyedjanai

Steve Harrington grew up the traditional small town American way. A mother and father that married straight out of high school, his dad ran the family business while his mother stayed at home. The first 8 years of his life he can remember fondly his mother baking him cookies and play dates with Tommy.

His room was always decorated in blues then plaid, toys were action heroes and trucks. Climbing trees and mud and puddles were always encouraged as long as he cleaned up before coming inside. His hair kept short, pants and shirts always blue or red or brown.

He could only play with girly things if it was also with Carol. Dolls were princesses needing rescuing, not tea parties. Carol's lipstick and blush could be smeared on as warpaint for battle in their treehouse.

Sports and trophies won his father's affection. His dad never missed a game, cheering the loudest at every goal. Ruffled hair and good jobs a plenty.

When he was 8 though, Tommy kissed his cheek before riding his bike home. Steve didn't even think about it, his father kissed his mother's cheek goodbye, Carol always kissed their cheeks when they rescued her from the dragon, usually that weird boy, Steve thinks he's in the year above.

His mother grabbed his hand when he came inside, pulling him up to his room. She'd never grabbed him like that.

"Never let Tommy do that again, Steven, and never let your father hear about it."

It was as simple as that, no room for questions, no room to understand why his best friend couldn't kiss his cheek. No explanation as to why his dad couldn't know, no way to understand why he liked it.

His parents went away more often after that, his mother encouraged more trips, and usually followed him. He was told to be a man and look after himself. Tommy never kissed his cheek again.

Now Steve was older, and he knew why his mother gripped his arm so hard, why his dad could never know. Knew that weird boy had been kicked out of home for the same reason, Steve should count himself lucky.

Those butterflies weren't worth losing a roof over his head, or a disease, or the loss of everything he has.

Steve feels older than he is but right now he feels eight years old. Eddie Munson just kissed his cheek before driving home.

The butterflies he thought he'd killed long ago felt in the thousands. But he turned to see his parents car in the driveway, light on downstairs. He was terrified to move, when had they got home. What did they already know?

He'd faced monsters terrified, he could face this.

Steve was grown now and he wanted to tell 8, 15 and 19 year old him that it was worth being terrified if it meant he got to love the weird boy whose heart is as big as a dragon's.

[cosyvelvetorchid]

“Home” for your BuckTommy prompts?

This is quite a cute one I think. Thank you 🩶

***

They sat in Tommys truck staring around the house across the street.

“Tommy?”

“Yeah?”

“I think we found our forever house.”

“I think we did, too, Evan.”

They’d been searching for over a year. In that time they’d gotten engaged and married.

Everybody said that they were being too picky, but they would always disagree. Yes, they had a list of non-negotiables but they also had a list of things they could be flexible about.

It had to have at least 3 bedrooms - that was non negotiable, but the two-car garage with a mechanics pit they could be flexible about if there was enough land that they could build one. It had to have a large yard with enough space for the kids - the 118’s and (hopefully) their own - to play in, and it definitely had to have a large kitchen because they both loved to cook, but it didn’t necessarily need to be on a cul de sac, nor did it absolutely have to have more than 1 floor. It did have to be within an hours drive for each of them to get to work.

They were close to giving up hope until they spotted this house a few days ago.

A 3 storey, 4 bedroom, 2 and half bathroom 1920’s home at the end of a quiet cul de sac. Built by a couple in 1927, and kept in excellent condition by them, and their daughter who owned it after them, who had recently passed away. It was definitely in need of modernising to their standard but it had a large garage at the back of the property with enough space for 2 cars and space to dig out a mechanics pit, 1 full acre of land filled with plenty of trees to build a treehouse in, a huge open plan kitchen diner, and basement big enough to house a gym. And it was almost equal distance to both 118 and harbour station, taking them both roughly 30 minutes to get to work.

Within 24 hours of viewing it they’d put in an offer and hoped and prayed and wished and manifested that it would be accepted.

48 hours later and they still hadn’t heard back from their lawyer. Buck was getting antsy, and the rest of the 118 were getting annoyed about him continually talking about it.

“Did I tell you it had these beautiful oak trees in the yard perfect for us to build a big tree house in?” He said as they drove to a call.

“Yes Buck. And a garage large enough to a mechanic pit.” Hen answered.

“And 3 bedrooms.” Said Eddie.

“And a waterfall shower.” Added Chim.

“Okay I know, I know I keep talking about but.. it’s going to be our forever house. And-and I’m just so excited that we might actually get it. I just.. I can’t wait to grow old with Tommy in it, ya know.” He rubbed the back of his neck a little embarrassed “I have this vision that I keep going back to of walking into the living room and finding Tommy asleep with.. with our little girl fast asleep on his chest.” He looked around the engine at everyone. “Okay you can laugh now know it’s stupid.”

“No, Buck it’s actually kinda sweet.” Chim told him.

“It’s beautiful, Buck.” Bobby added from the front of the engine. “Oh, heads up guys we’re almost there.”

Buck looked out the window and his furrowed his brows.

“What is it, Buck?” Eddie asked.

“I feel like I’ve been here before.. looks familiar.”

“Maybe we’ve had a call here.” Hen suggested.

“Yeah. It’s probably that.” He said, despite the feeling that he had seemed to suggest it was maybe more recent? As the engine turned the corner into the street that contained the fire, Buck suddenly realised where he knew the area from.

The engine came to a stop and he jumped out of down. The fire was blocked from view on the side of the truck they were standing at by an ambulance.

The ambulance drove away revealing the fire and Bucks heart broke.

*

Three hours later Tommy got out of the shower and checked his phone whilst running a towel through his hair. As soon as he saw the text from Eddie he threw on some clothes, grabbed his keys and ran out of the door.

He pulled into the cul de sac and parked behind the 118 engine.

“Tommy, hey.” Eddie walked over. “How many speed limits did you break to get here?”

“You don’t want to know. Where is he?” Eddie pointed his finger towards a car parked opposite the blackened, smoking remains of the house.

Tommy walked over to Buck who was leant against the side of the car, arms folded and a forlorn look on his face.

“Hey, sweetheart.” He said approaching.

“Tommy? What are you— Eddie texted you didn’t he?”

“Yeah. You okay?” He wrapped an arm around Evan’s neck and pulled him into a hug.

“Yeah. No. I.. It was the perfect house, Tommy. We’ve been looking for so long and I was giving up hope, and-and then we saw this place and..” he stopped himself.

“And what?”

“I actually kinda started to think the universe was listening and given us what we wanted. Like, it knew how happy we were and it knew that giving us our forever home would be the last piece. It’s dumb I know.”

“Hey no, baby. It’s not dumb. You were excited for us - that’s nothing to feel bad for.” He squeezed Evan tight and planted a kiss onto his temple before opening the hug, keeping one arm around his shoulder. They both stood watching Eddie hose down the last remaining hotspots of the building.

All that seemed to be left was the basement and half the 1st floor. Everything else was gone.

“I’m starting to think we’ll never find our forever home.” Evan said, sadly.

“I do.” Tommy said confidently.

“How do you know?”

“Because, Mr Evan Kinard-“ Tommy turned to face Evan and took his face gently in his hands “-wherever we live, no matter where it is, no matter if it has everything we want or nothing at all.. so long as we’re together, it’s home. It will always be home.

[bucksboobs]

BuddieTommy in relation to Jee Yun is so funny to be honest. As a gay man with a niece that has been known to spend money I don’t have on her… Three grown, established men, who all have some experience with construction and money to burn screams treehouse the size of some tiny homes with a slide, a zip line, a climbing wall and an attached swingset. They call Michael for architectural advice and Buck binges Treehouse masters, Tommy installs a window unit, Eddie spends an entire weekend painting a mural while Tommy and Buck lovingly heckle him.

[toms-cherry-trees]

Ash & Shadows || Tommy Shelby x Reader

Summary: The night is long and dreary. Does the future hold hope, or is there just pain left?

Word count: 4.9k

Tags: Implications of major character death, grief, angst, Tommy being and asshole and then regretting it, set after s6e6 so I had to work around that hot mess. It has some Gothic and ghostly themes

Author’s note: A CALENDAR YEAR I PROCRASTINATED THIS but I HAD to finish it so, enjoy?

The tears have long dried in your cheeks, but their saltiness lingers in your tongue. Your throat feels parched, but you cannot find it in yourself to cross the few steps that separate you from the cup of stale tea in your nightstand, nor any of the dozen abandoned beverages that litter the master bedroom. There’s whiskey with water on the mantelpiece, sitting next to some plain water, and remnants of milk with honey and cinnamon, in which you suspect Frances mixed some drops of laudanum, for you felt strangely calm after drinking it, but not enough to find sleep. The bed is a mess, proof of your restlessness, the sheets and blankets hastily pulled from the corners and wrapped tightly around you like a protective cocoon, in hopes that the comforting swaddle will keep you whole for one more night. But they do little to placate the unforgiving cold spreading through your insides, a chill sprouting from within your very soul.

The ash and soot linger on your hands, caked under your ruined nails and smeared across your raw skin. Your clothes have not been changed in days, and they smell of burnt wood and petrol, mixed with something unspeakable and revolting. The stench is rooted in your nostrils, so pervasive you taste it in your mouth, in your throat, in the depths of your lungs. It spreads through your veins and seeps into your bones, consuming your spirit in waves of black and death. You are overcome by the vile venom, and even the mere evocation of it makes you choke and heave violently. A foulness you will never be able to forget, perennially engraved in the deepest corners of your memory, alongside other grim chapters of your past. But unlike others, this has changed your life, your self, the very course of your existence. You cannot fathom how the world continues to spin and the sun to rise in the horizon after such ground shattering devastation has occurred. 

Your husband is dead, that much you know. He is dead and you are still alive and in your heart, that goes against the laws of nature. You are not meant to exist without the other. You had swore to grow old together, how could he leave you thirty years before his time? How could he leave when your children had not even learned to tie their shoes themselves yet? He had not yet commissioned the treehouse he promised them, how could he abandon them halfway through?

You should have known something was amiss. You knew your husband, better than anyone could. You had a way to read his thoughts and forestall his actions that not even his late aunt could comprehend. Only you could dissipate the fog from his troubled mind and unravel the rigmarole which composed the very foundations of his existence. He had once said, late at night, with his arm around your waist while he believed you fast asleep, that he felt like a man standing alone under a wicked thunderstorm, and you were the only one brave enough to face the tempest and come to him with an umbrella, even at the risk of your own life. But he would forever take the umbrella from your hands. Your life before his, every single time.

How could you not foresee this?

Ever since the failed assassination on Mosley, Tommy had slowly but steadily gone down a steep slope, one not even you could rescue him from. Life had never shown him mercy; every time he reached the pinnacle, a new mountain blocked his way, mightier and deadlier than the last. He had surmounted them all, not without penalty, leaving blood bathed bullets and bodies in his wake. But at last, Tommy had found his Everest. The summit taunted him, unreachable; the death of his aunt clobbered him like an avalanche, and the man he became after that didn’t hold the slightest resemblance to the man you fell in love with. You were sure that if you sat the present day Tommy before the one he used to be in 1919, they would not recognise each other.

He tried to keep you shielded from his meetings with the fascists, the rallies, the gossip and scandal. Only he knew the dangers that lurked in the shadows of the garden while you sat before the fireplace reading stories with your children. And only he knew about the stacks of bills being passed from hand to hand, sealing deals and pacts that promised to change the course of history. Tommy only wanted you to worry about your charities, your horses and your pretty dresses, and leave the rest of the world upon his steady shoulders.

In his mind, oblivious meant safe. For you, it felt like a lack of trust in your person. And that soon morphed into bitter resentment, never shown openly but perpetually simmering just beneath the surface, ready to erupt. Lying had always come easy to him, but it became harder when his lies were unmasked in the morning paper. How could he pledge innocence when his face showed up on the front page next to the leader of the British Union of Fascists? How could he deny his guilt, with Diana Mitford right at his tail?

How could he pretend leaving you in the dark was for the greater good?

Everything came to a breaking point when he suddenly summoned you to his study to inform you he would be departing for Canada the following day, with no clear return date and refusing to elaborate on what called him so suddenly to cross the Atlantic. The more you pressed for answers, the more he manoeuvred around them with carefully premeditated replies of vague content, half finished sentences and loose words, so unlike him that the lies unravelled on their own before your eyes. His total carelessness over the situation and the dismissal of your worries became the drop that tipped the glass. Months of carefully concealed rancour came bursting to the surface like an erupting volcano. 

You called him every name in the book, reminding him of the things you had endured for his sake over the long course of your relationship, while he could not even allow you the decency of forewarning you of such a trip or offer an acceptable explanation for such haste in departure, the acrimony in your heart even making you ask if he had special company for the journey. His impassive silence only irked you further, and you told him he could get a one way ticket to hell for all you cared, before slamming the door to his office so violently you heard a painting fall and shatter on the ground. 

The day after, you rounded the kids in the foyer for the mandatory goodbyes. He hugged them all long and tight, a rarity in itself for a man who had become so cold and withdrawn he barely spared them a glance in the mornings over his newspaper. And then he kneeled before Charlie and placed a brand new gold pocket watch in the boy’s little hands. Your husband said men wore pocket watches and he would be the man of the house now. The boy only stared back, perplexed, and nodded once silently before pocketing the precious object with utmost care.

You remained irate, arms crossed over your chest, fingers drumming on your arm impatiently. It was hard to tell you apart from an enraged bull staring at a red cloth. A part of you felt like a petulant child, but after so many years of marriage and everything you had silently withstood for him, you could no longer hide the hurt and disappointment, feelings far too familiar that you had grown accustomed to conceal. You only allowed him a brief goodbye, turning your face away when he tried to kiss your lips, presenting your cheek instead. He didn’t protest, his lips lingering on your skin longer than they had done in years, his gloved hand cradling the back of your neck and playing with your hair. His free arm circled your waist and pulled you close, face moving to rest in the crook of your neck as he inhaled deeply, as if committing the scent of your body to memory.

A strange sense of foreboding filled you, but you forced it out of your mind. 

If you had known what the future held ahead, you would have jumped into his arms, engraving in your memory every detail of himself; the feeling of his hands on your waist, the timbre of his voice. Traced every nook and cranny of his face with your fingertips, over and over until you could forever recall it. You would have kissed those lips until they bled, and with the same ferocity, you would have screamed and clawed and made the windows rattle and the ground shake, demanding an explanation. Demanding to know why.

The days passed, and the worry began to gnaw at your chest. The hotel address he gave you didn’t exist, nor did the phone number which he scribbled down hastily seconds before crossing the threshold, only after you demanded to have a way to contact him should an emergency arise with the kids. The kids. Not you. Over his shoulder, as if an afterthought, he said he would call. After the first week of silence you had a landline installed outside your bedroom, and you would stare incessantly at the apparatus, willing it to ring. One time you heard the faint ringing in the study from the entrance door, and you rushed to it with such haste you vaulted over a sofa and snapped your high heel off. But it only turned out to be Ada, checking in on you. Ever since that day, everyone seemed to grow suspiciously closer to you. Calls and visits and days out. Ada inviting you to London and looking after the kids to give you a day off. Curly and Charlie coming often to help the kids tame their new ponies. Arthur would come too, far too often to be normal, and he would sit across from you in the living room, nursing a whiskey in his hand and poorly attempting small talk, always looking ready to be sick and evading your gaze.

Their pitiful stares didn’t go unnoticed, nor did some carefully chosen words, such as how your kids would always be looked after and provided for in the family, how they would always be there for you and would support whatever you chose to do with your life. Praising your strength, offering their support, always looking away or changing the subject when you asked if your husband had called them. The thinly veiled edge of desperation in your voice seemed to stir something within them, and redoubled their efforts in consoling you for something you didn’t yet know.

The truth laid bare before your very eyes, just an inch out of reach, concealed just enough to keep you in the dark with confusing glimpses of the life ahead.

But the passive games and the uncertainty came to an abrupt halt one bright sunny morning, the skies blue and clear like Tommy’s eyes and a gentle breeze fanning over the gardens. You told the nannies to prepare the kids for a picnic in the meadow, and helped Frances set up a plentiful food basket. But just before you could set foot out, a car stopped in the driveway. The frantic knocking on the door and the slurred screaming had you fearfully peeking out through the draperies, your finger readied on the trigger of a gun, only to see Arthur slumped against one of the columns of the entrance, calling out your name. Before he could say another word, you knew he had relapsed back into the opium, acquired from who knows where. Even from afar, he reeked of alcohol and smoke, face bloated and eyes bloodshot and swollen. He staggered forward, nearly toppling over you before falling to his knees, his face distorted in anguish. You tried to pull him up, to coax some sort of explanation out of him, anything to placate the worry crawling up your chest.

A million possible scenarios played in your head, yet not even ten lives could have prepared you for the simple words that escaped his mouth.

“Tommy is dead”

From that point on, memories become elusive. Only fleeting moments remain. You recall your own hands, hands meant to nurture, caress and comfort; hands that wiped tears, stroked hairs and tickled bellies, your kind and gentle hands gripping Arthur’s coat lapels and pulling on him with such force he came back to his feet, startled. You remember shaking him violently, teeth gritted and vision blurred with hot tears, your mascara running down your cheeks. Your lips parted to scream, but you cannot recall what words came out of your mouth. Arthur tried to pry your hands open and take some distance, but then you slapped him across the face. Or maybe not. Perhaps it was a punch. Or maybe a detail that never happened, later added by your wrecked mind. Because you hoped that if you screamed and punched and tore the world to pieces you would awaken from that nightmare.

You saw the smoke long before the car reached the side road. The perfume of the blooming flowers could not mask the wafting aroma of charred wood, petrol and burnt fabrics, with something else you could not quite pinpoint, but smelled vile and pernicious. A cheerful meadow stretched out before you, bright green dotted with white and yellow spreading as far as the eye reached across gentle hills. And amidst all, a scorched patch of land, and a pile of still smouldering debris, wisps of acrid poison swirling in the docile spring breeze. 

You leapt towards the vardo’s remains, but Arthur restrained you, slender but firm arms circled tight around your waist as he attempted to comfort you; as if there could be any comfort for you in that moment and place. You fought him with tooth and nail, scratching and biting and kicking like a frenzied beast, cursing his name, his bloodline and his entire existence. All he did back was shush you, a hand pressed to your abdomen, his arm around your chest as your knees gave and you collapsed into him, agonising wails wracking your to your core.

You cried out for Tommy, but only death called back.

In time, the smoke cleared and the pyre cooled, allowing you a clear view of the massacre before your very eyes. Like the leftovers of a bonfire, wood so thoroughly charred it disintegrated on the hand, mixed with scalding pieces of metal and leftover rags that once were curtains and bedding. You fell to your knees, frantic fingers digging at the ash and earth bare handed, soot and dust clinging to your sweat doused skin, getting in your eyes, your nose, your mouth. Your fingers ached and your skin reddened and blistered in the heat, but you felt nothing, nothing but the overcoming grief coiling around your heart, constricting your throat and freezing the blood in your veins. Your tears sizzled as they fell on the ground. You dug and dug, panicked sobs reverberating in the emptiness of the meadow, your pain a sharp contrast with the chirping of the blackbirds on the branches. 

You could find but only a few scarce belongings that survived the conflagration. A couple of gold sleeve garters. His pocket watch, the mechanism somehow still working. The frames of his reading glasses, the crystals having been lost to the heat. No matter how deep you dug, his wedding ring was nowhere to be found. And everything else had turned to ash and dust.

Ashes of the vardo. 

Ashes of your memories together.

Ashes of the man.

The love of your life swept away by the wind.

~

You no longer know if it’s day or night. The heavy drapes are closed, and only a few dying embers remain in the hearth. The room is cold, more than usual, robbed from the warmth of fire and the warmth of love. Time passess differently when grief has its clutches around you. Every second is too slow, yet every day moves by too fast. Three days have swept by, maybe four, plus the month of faked departure in which he roamed the fields while you believed him across the pond. His scent is fading from the pillows, from his clothes, from your memory. You sprayed some of his cologne on your wrists but it's not the same because it is not on his skin. It is not mixed with leather, ink and gunpowder. It is not him.

You already fear you are forgetting the right colour of Tommy’s eyes, the various hues mixing in your mind but none seems quite right. Are they the colour of the sky on a bright summer day? The tranquil sea surrounding the ship that took you to your honeymoon on the continent? Do they match the aquamarines from the demi parure he gifted you on your birthday, just because he said their colour suited your skin?

No. No do. Did. Because his eyes are no more. His bright eyes, his rare smiles, his handsome face, his protective hands and everything in between are no more. They are just ash and dust, a pile abandoned in the middle of an open field being swept by the wind and rain.

Floorboards creak on the hallway, but it could be the scurrying maids as much as the wandering spirits that populate your home, souls rooted in the land due to unfinished businesses from their past lives, acting as owner and keepers of a place where you are but a temporary guest. A door slams shut somewhere in the house, and the windows creak and rattle under the assault of the brewing tempest. The room grows icier, if possible, your breath rising in puffs of white. Your fingers feel stiff, achingly clutching onto an old pocket watch. Even the rings in your hands have turned to ice.

You curl tighter into yourself, if possible, your palms pressed to your face to warm your freezing nose and lips. Sleep threatens to take you, but you fight it with all your might, for the only place worse than life right now, is inside your head. The nightmares have chased you ever since that day, each one more horrifying than the last. But the body beats the mind, and your eyelids, heavy as lead, fall shut, your consciousness slipping away in waves.

You cannot be sure how long you slept, or if you did at all, when something startles you into attention. You sit up abruptly, heart beating frenziedly in your chest. The room is pitch dark, and for a moment you are disoriented, unsure of where you are. It takes long seconds for you to notice there’s a body next to yours, and a heavy, warm hand is pressed against your back to support you.

When you turn your head, the scream falls from your lips involuntarily, and you are positive your heart stops briefly. He looks so well, so perfectly well and common, so alive. Your hands are on his face, on his neck, running down his chest and arms as your mind struggles to come to terms with the image in front of your eyes.

“Tommy?”

Shrouded in black, his hair damp and  tousled, and perfectly unharmed. As if he were just returning from a session in Parliament. His hand slides up your body, from your back to your shoulder, then your neck and up to cup your face, thumb brushing against your tear streaked cheek. You lean instinctively against his touch; the warmth from his palm spreads through your skin like a soothing balm. It feels safe; it feels like home, like the place where you belong. 

His free arms circles your waist and pulls you into him, your head tucked between his chin and shoulder and your body pulled onto his lap. Both of your arms wrap tightly around his middle, fearing that if you let go, he would disappear like smoke, forever this time.

“Tommy? Tommy, what happened? Where have you been?” Tears brim again in your eyes, and the coil tightens around your throat “I…I don’t understand. Arthur said that you were…that you were” The word, that word, cannot make it past the knot. The word you so dreaded to accept. “I saw the ashes in the meadow”

He says nothing, nothing besides a hum of acknowledgement at your words. His thumb brushes back and forth against your cheekbone, the other hand tracing lines up and down the length of your spine, causing your belly to flutter. You are confused, terribly so, your thoughts reeling with the need for answers. But Tommy, as usual, offers none, and you don’t really want to spoil the moment, not when your heart is finally at peace after the terrible weeks you’ve endured.

The embrace goes on forever, none of you making effort to move or speak. Every now and then you feel his lips brush against your forehead, or his nose bury in your hair and inhale deeply, drowning himself in your scent. The storm howls outside, windows rattling with the strength of the wind, the glasses mercilessly pelted by ferocious raindrops. By now, the children would usually be awake and crowding your bed, seeking safety under your blankets. But peacefulness reigns their slumber that night, and you are grateful for it. You desperately need this moment alone with your husband.

His head tilts suddenly, just enough to place a gentle kiss against your temple, then his lips brush against the shell of your ear

“I am sorry” His voice is raspy and worn, as if it has not been used in quite some time “For everything. For keeping you in the dark, for not trusting your strength. For everything I put you through” His embrace around you tightens into an almost painful grip, as if he wishes to fuse his body into yours “You are fierce. And strong. The strongest woman I know. You can overcome anything, nothing could tear you down”

For some reason, those words do not sit right with you. They feel ominous, almost like a forever goodbye. You try to crane your neck to get a better look at his face, to read his expression, but he resists, hidden in the curve of your neck. Your heartbeat quickens in panic.

“I am only strong when I have you by my side. I need you, Tommy. These past days have ruined me. I cannot tread upon an earth you do not exist in.” Your fingers dig on the fabric of his coat, and for the first time you notice his clothes are dampened and smell faintly of wet soil and smoke.

Tommy chuckles, the familiar sound reverberating inside your ribs. He shifts again and his lips are against your forehead, continuing to refuse you a clear glimpse of his face.

“You were strong when I met you. You were strong when I tried to push you away for your own safety. And I know you will continue to be. For the family, for our children. They need you. You are their whole world”

Again those words, those threats of a future in which he had no place. The tears come back with renewed strength, blurring your vision and choking the words in your mouth, but you manage to force them. You cannot leave anything unsaid, not if he’s planning to abandon you once more.

“They need their father too” You protest “Please, Tommy. You can’t walk away again. Not when you are back in my arms” Your grip tightened to accentuate your words “I lost you once, I cannot do this again. Please don’t make me do this again Tommy. If you leave, you might as well kill me now, and spare me such misery”

“I can’t stay” The words cut like blades through your heart and lungs, and for a moment, you can’t remember how to breathe “I’ve got to go, but I promise you, I will always be with you. I’ll never leave your side, whether you can see me or not. I will always be your husband, in this life and the next” You cannot be sure, but he seems to be holding back sobs as well “So many things went wrong. So many mistakes that cannot be fixed. What’s done cannot be undone” Those words do not seem directed to you, but rather thoughts spoken out loud, an airing of frustrations he’s kept bottled up.

You pull away from him, so fiercely not even his strength can keep you still. Your hands cup his cheeks and pull him down until his forehead is against yours. You can barely discern his features in the darkness of the bedroom, so you use your fingers to gently trace the slope of his nose, the sharpness of the jaw, the softness of his lips. His breath fans over your face; he smells all over of nature, of dirt, of open fields and pine woods. 

“There is nothing that cannot be undone. Do you hear me? Nothing. Nothing that we can’t work out together” You can barely contain your desperation “You are Thomas Shelby. You can pull down the moon if you desire; you could bend the King to your will. How can you not fix whatever troubles you?”

His hands envelop yours, fingers gently prying yours away; but instead of dropping them, he cradles them gently, bringing them up to his lips to press tender kisses against your knuckles. His lips linger against your wedding ring until the metal warms.

“Not everything is fixable, my love. There are things not even I can undo. Some mistakes are permanent. I tried, tried my whole life, but I am not God, not yet” He pulls you into his chest again, and pulls the blankets around you “But you don’t need to worry about that now. The hour is late and the sun will soon be up. You need to rest, my sweet dove. Sleep and dream; I will be with you”

You wanted to protest, to pull away, to not let him finish things like that. But you suddenly felt terribly exhausted, as if the last days had dropped on top of you with the weight of boulders, and his arms were so comforting. He gently rocked you both back and forth, a hand on the back of your head and the other on your back. The last thing you remember is Tommy murmuring sweet words of love in your ear. You cannot remember them exactly, but you fell asleep with a smile on your lips.

The next morning you awake tucked in bed, buried between pillows and blankets and wearing a clean nightgown. You sigh contently and stretch your arm to the side, towards Tommy’s side, but find it to be cold and empty, feeling something powdery between your fingers.

Your eyes shoot open, sitting so abruptly you see spots dancing in your vision. The room is bathed in sunlight, all the curtains drawn back. Outside there’s a perfect spring morning, and you hear the dogs barking and the gardeners going about their duties. Once your eyes adjust to the brightness, you discover that the powdery thing on the mattress appears to be ash, or dirt, you are not quite sure. The sheets are stained with it, and when you stand from the bed, you find a trail of residue all the way to the door. Upon inspection, you notice some of it has been left on the door handle, as if someone grabbed it with dirty hands.

The door nearly slams on your face as Frances pushes it open, carrying a breakfast tray. You both jump with a startle, but she manages to keep her wits enough to not drop the tray at your feet

“That was quite a scare you gave me there, Mrs. Shelby. But it’s wonderful to see you at last out of bed” Frances says, as she leaves the tray on a small table with two chairs “The nanny has taken the children to the stables, so you have a quiet morning ahead of you”

You reach out to pick your robe, your thoughts still filled with the encounter of the previous night. You want to ask Frances, but choose not to, not wishing to be taken as a madwoman. What would she say if you told her your dead husband had slept in your bed the previous night? So you play ignorance, and sit before the table, your stomach rumbling at the sight of buttered toast

“That’s good, but don’t let them out for too long. It ought to be quite muddy and damp outside from the storm, and I don’t want them getting sick”

Your fingers are curled around the steaming teacup when she speaks again.

“Storm? There was no storm, Mrs. Shelby. I was up quite late and the skies were clear, although it was a moonless night, so everything was quite dark”

The teacup stops midair, and a cold shiver runs down your spine, goosebumps covering your flesh. You had heard the wind, the rain, felt the rattling of the windowpanes and the water running down the pipes. Then, you notice a glint on your ring finger. A glint that was not there the night before.

You now wear two wedding bands. One the perfect size, one a few too big. And outside your window, the blackbirds begin to sing.

[rdng1230]

Any SalTommy headcanons?

Thanks for the ask I have literally So many! ok I’m putting these into categories. The first is happy fluffy fun, the second and third is something I’ll probably have to discuss in therapy next week 🙃. For reals, I almost deleted those last paragraphs because here this nice person has come to my ask box and my brain has decided to reciprocate with the most hurt no comfort shit it’s ever concocted. Ok happy stuff first!

Saltommy as besties:

they are attached at the hip and their two favorite activities are Muay Thai and action movie marathons. At some point they get overly into the Guy Ritchie British gangster type movies and Hen has to institute a “stupid British accent” jar for the two of them.

Tommy and Sal don’t hang out that often once they leave the 118. But Tommy is ride or die for Sal’s daughter. He’s the fun uncle that isn’t constantly there but when he is he does something insanely awesome like build her a treehouse or a bottle cannon or something.

The reason Gina dragged Sal to twilight was because she is bisexual and just as into Kristen Stewart as he is. When Tommy *finally* comes out it’s actually Sal that suggests Gina take Tommy to his first pride. Sal stays at home with his daughter so Tommy and Gina end up having a very fun and alcohol filled night a la the bachelor party that wasn’t. (goddammit I think I just gave myself another fic in the series to write.)

k well that’s enough happiness this is about to get insanely angsty for no fucking reason besides apparently that my brain wants me to suffer today. If your brain does not desire to feed the angst demon inside of you, for the love of god stop reading now. I will NOT be offended because I wrote the damn thing and I think I took it too far. Also it gets a lil NSFW from here.

Evil toxic fucked up Saltommy:

Tommy’s fucked up dad and then fucked up army superiors and then fucked up captain Gerrard taught tommy he was safer following the big tough guy. He knows Sal is bad for him, knows Sal doesn’t love him, but he figures being useful is good enough when he knows he won’t be wanted. He lets Sal take more than he should, usually discreet hand/blowjobs in the showers or broom closet (yeah the metaphor isn’t lost on him)

They have a horrible call where the one person they did manage to rescue suddenly codes in the ambulance. A version of Sal that Tommy’s never seen before shows up at Tommy’s house. It’s the only time Sal ever lets Tommy fuck him and after it’s over, Tommy holds him and runs his hand through Sal’s hair. They fall asleep together but when Tommy wakes up Sal is long gone. The following week Sal is absolutely vicious to everyone. He ends up getting hurt and Tommy patches him up. As Tommy sterilizes a wound just above his eye, Sal grabs his arm and stares at him. It’s an apology, and it’s also an ending. Tommy still follows Sal, always one pace behind, but they’re never intimate again.

Idk I guess doomed lovers Saltommy? Sal’s not as much of a monster but they’re still not healthy:

There’s always a heat to Tommy and Sal’s banter and Tommy genuinely wonders if someday Sal might tip them into something more. One of the 118 probies dies and Sal on some level believes it’s his fault. The night of the probies funeral Sal’s just numb and Tommy suggests Sal crash his couch. Tommy hates seeing Sal in pain like that and hovers in front of the bedroom door wondering if he should go to him. He’s shocked when Sal opens the door and suddenly they’re in Tommy’s bed. He’s surprised by how cuddly Sal is. (And if you’re like hey that sounds a bit like Booth & Brennan shhhhh you saw nothing)

after that they start sneaking around. At this point Gerrard is gone and they’re in the revolving door of captains stage. Tommy starts talking about potentially telling Hen and Chim, and Sal just knows deep in his gut that Tommy is the braver of the two of them, and Sal won’t be ready in the time Tommy needs him to be. Sal starts picking fights hoping Tommy will run off on his own. Eventually they do stop seeing each other romantically but Tommy’s still so *close* it’s driving Sal insane. He wants to run away with him and he wants to run away from him at the same time. When Bobby shows up and doesn’t know his ass from his elbow a lot of the time, Sal let’s all that anger and tension bubble up, on some level he knows he can’t bring himself to leave Tommy, so he pushes Bobby into sending him away by force.

After he moves to the 122 he buries himself in the work. He makes captain, even starts dating men, but still in the shadows. He hears through the grapevine that Tommy is dating the 118’s hotshot. He sees a photo of Tommy and Buck at the medal ceremony in the morning paper, looking so obviously head over heels for one another, and it’s the first and only sick day as a captain he ever takes.

[jjsmaybank20]

Watching You

Wanda Maximoff x Fem!Reader

Summary: your sons want to be just like you, so they copy your mannerisms as best they can.

Warnings: all fluffy family shit

Word Count: 1.4k

navigation  marvel masterlist

---

You had just picked Tommy up from school, McDonald’s Happy Meals in the car ready for him. Billy was home sick with Wanda, so you were in charge of picking Tommy up. You buckled him in and got back in the driver's seat, chatting idly about his day with him as you drove him home. 

You watched the 7-year-old scarf down his nuggets, knowing that he couldn’t have the toy till they were gone. You glance forward and a traffic light that had been green turned straight to red. You hit the brakes, making everything in the car pitch forward. You mumble curses under your breath, hoping that your son can’t hear you.

Tommy’s fries go flying towards the front, and his drink tips over into his lap. He looks down at his now soaking wet pants and says, “Shit!” You look at him, surprised and concerned, but he just grins right back at you. The light turns green again and you continue driving, still worried about where your son had learned that word.

“Hey, buddy. Where’d you learn to talk like that?” Tommy just smiles at you before saying, “I’ve been watching you, mama! I wanna be just like you. I’m gonna eat all my food, and grow as tall as you are. We both have Yankees baseball caps, and- and Lakers jerseys! We're just alike. I wanna do everything you do.” 

You tear up slightly as you pull into the driveway of your house. “Yeah, buddy. We’re just alike. Now run inside and go check on your brother.” He nods and runs towards the front door, leaving you standing by the car, thinking over your life choices.

Wanda comes out and sees you with a slightly pained expression on your face. “What's up, babe?” You shake your head and pull your wife into a hug. “It’s just… Tommy said he wants to be just like me in the car. He also said shit, which he apparently learned from me. I’ve done so many awful things in my life, and I don’t want him to turn out the same way I did. Please Wanda, help me help my stupid self.” 

She chuckles slightly, smiling up at you. “He said shit?” You groan and nod, looking up at the sky. “Yes! God, I need to stop cursing.” Wanda nods in agreement. Suddenly, your other son runs out the door and jumps into your arms. You let out a quiet ‘umph’, swinging him around as he giggles.

“Mama, mama! I feel so much better. Can we work on our project?” You hike him up in your arms, laughing at his enthusiasm. “Yeah, of course kiddo. Go grab the tools.” He drops from your hold and hits the ground running. You watch him take off before turning back to Wanda. She is looking at you with an indescribable look of love in her eyes. “You’re a wonderful influence on the boys, and the best mom and wife a woman could ask for. Now go build a treehouse with your son.”

You grin at her and you place a kiss on her lips before chasing after Billy. He had gone into the garage and brought out the toolbox that held all of the things you needed to put together the treehouse of his dreams. You make your way into the back yard, watching him get the drawing that he had made of what he wanted his fort to look like. You noticed that he had put on a baseball cap that you recognized, and as you came up behind him you asked, “Is that my hat?” 

You watch his eyes go wide and he practically rips it off and holds it out towards you, muttering apologies profusely. You watch him panic for a second before letting a smile spread across your face. You reach out and push the hat into his chest, saying, “Keep it. It suits you. Looks better on you anyway.” He frowns slightly, answering, “But I wanted to look like you.” You can’t help but think about how much he sounds like Tommy in the car, and you pull him into your arms.

“Have you and your brother been conspiring together again? Y’all are saying the same shi-,” Billy gives you a stern look, and you fix your language. “Stuff. Stuff. And yeah, we look exactly the same. Guess who you got your ruggedly handsome looks from?” Billy pretends to think about it for a second before answering, “Mommy.” You gasp in offense and Billy takes off running while you chase after him.

When you catch him, you tickle his sides until he relents and wheezes, “Okay, okay, fine, I got it from you, Mama!” You nod, feeling accomplished. “That’s what I thought. Now go clean up, your mom will come after me if you track dirt through the house.”

---

Later that night, you sat yourself down between the two boys beds and turned on their Scooby-Doo night light that they had insisted you buy for them. It took you a couple of tries to get them to settle down, but you eventually tucked them both in. Almost immediately after the covers went over him, Tommy hopped out of bed much to your annoyance. 

That annoyance quickly melted away as he shyly handed you a paper that he had just pulled from his backpack, murmuring, “I made this for you, Mama.” You glance down at it, not knowing what to expect. As you read further and further down the page, you couldn’t help the tears that formed in your eyes. Tommy looks at you worriedly, thinking that he had done something wrong to make you cry.

“It’s okay, Mama! Why are you sad?” You shake your head and wipe your eyes. “I’m not sad, buddy. These are happy tears. I love you both so much.” You glance at the paper, having to look at the sky so that you don’t start crying again. “God, you guys are both growing up so fast.” 

Tommy wraps his little arms around you, and they are quickly joined by Billy’s. “You know, Mama, even when we’re big we’ll still know what to do, cause you taught us.” Tommy nods enthusiastically, adding, “You taught us to eat all our food so that we can grow as tall as you are, and if we work hard we can be just like you. When we’re all grown up, we’ll be able to do everything that you do.”

You give them a watery smile before sighing and concluding, “You two are already so much stronger than I’ll ever be. Your mom and I are so proud of you, and we are so lucky to have you as our kids.” You look at them lovingly before sitting them down on their individual beds and pushing their heads towards the pillows by their faces.

They giggle at you and you place kisses on their foreheads before turning their light out and exiting the room. As you make your way downstairs, you think over what your sons had told you. You find your wife in the kitchen making the two of you dinner. 

You wrap your arms around her from behind, and almost instantly, she melts into them. You stick your face in her neck and place feather-light kisses on it. Wanda sighs shakily, trying to stay focused on the food so that it doesn’t burn. You pull away slightly, before randomly saying, “You know, both boys want to be like me. How much do you wanna bet Billy will turn out like you?” Wanda laughs, and the sound makes your heart flutter and creates a giddy feeling in your stomach. She turns around in your arms and wraps her arms around your neck. “I don’t doubt it. Tommy definitely shares your personality more.” You chuckle and lean in to press a kiss to her lips.

She chases after you when you pull away, and you almost let her suck you back in, but then you smell a burning scent. You look behind her, seeing the food is burnt to a crisp. You move quickly to turn off the burner, and Wanda looks at the stove apprehensively. 

You glance at her before asking, “Pizza?” She nods and smiles at you before going to order it. As you watch her go, it hits you that you finally have the family that you had always wanted, and you had it with a woman that you love more than anything in the world.

You couldn’t be more grateful for such a wonderful family, and you would love them until the day that you die.

—

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[tubzthelilbeeboy]

Explanation of my silly QSMP x DSMP crossover shit to explain some of the fanfic I'm writing haha

This takes place about 5 years after Ranboo's death, they had patched things over with Aimsey and the two of them work in Aimsey's little outdoors cafe near the treehouse. Tubbo hasn't left Snowchester in those last 5 years, isolating himself from everyone and anything other than Quackity and Tommy. After about one year after Ranboo's death, Pac and Fit show up with Ramon in Snowchester, asking Tubbo for a place to live. Over the years more ppl from QSMP flock to Snowchester to escape a war happening between the bunnies and the faceless bear workers. Soon basically the entire QSMP cast is living in Snowchester. Tubbo ends up finding Sunny and adopting her and yada yada that's what sets up the fic pretty much. Still a few holes to work out but its mainly gonna be beeduo and frubbo centric. Gotta have the love triangle hehe >:)

[canines-alter-creation]

can i get a level 3 cat ghost hyrbrid tommyinnit headmate

We+ really enjoyed this one, tbh we love making various types of Tommys. He's Our+ favorite member of the dsmp!

> Name(s): Tommy, Ghostinnit, Phantommy, Tabby, Dandelion

> Pronoun(s): he/fluff/paw/haunt/ghost/float/it/red/fade/leaves/fall/auto/autumn

> Age: perma16

> Gender: masc, dimedowic, dandefluff, purgatorean, genderghost, genderhaunted, boything, lostghostic, dissicioghostic, autumncatgender, 

> Sexuality: aro/ace is a ghost and doesn’t experience human connection anymore

> Role: dissonaut, symptom holder

> Source: ghostinnit (specifically an exileinnit that died)

> Faceclaims:

> Sign-offs: 🐈, 🐱, 🐈‍⬛, 🪦, 👻, 🔴, 🐾

> Song theme:

> Front triggers(pos/neg/neu):

Does not have positive or neutral front triggers, is only triggered into front by the emergency situation of needing to dissociate, otherwise it is strictly an internal alter due to the symptoms it causes being near front. 

> Likes/dislikes:

+ Other ghosts, being alone, feeling empty or dead

- Dream, Techno, people that treat him like Tommy

> Personality: Tabby doesn’t have much of an identity, 

> Ways they do their role: ghosts role revolves around holding and experiencing dissociation, anytime it fronts the body immediately becomes almost ghost like, unable to think or remember, unable to do anything other than sit or lay where they are. It feels like floating around, movement is slow and drifty. He struggles to walk or really move. Is a good fronter in emergency situations where one wants or needs to forget something. 

> Inner world occupation or behavior: May float placidly around inner. He only remembers the good things Tommy did, so he doesn’t have much in the way of memory. May gravitate towards Tubbos and Ranboos, but more so in the fact that he likes to follow them around or keep them company. Doesn’t have a home, but prefers somewhere simple and calming to haunt, maybe a treehouse or forest of some kind. 

> Possible outerworld behavior: Is almost catatonic while fronting, doesn’t talk much, may try to sleep a lot or gravitate towards sunny places to lay and relax. Never likes to front and only does it as an emergency situation where dissociation is the safest option for you all. May cause delusions regarding being dead. 

[suspiciouslackofclowns]

“Y’know, when I was little, I had hair down to my ass.”

Billy digs down at the bottom of the bag, inspecting the orange dust that coats his knuckles before he crunches on another chip. He knows that Steve is doing his customary nod to show that he’s listening even though he can’t even see him.

Fingers gently rake through his roots, massaging at his scalp, and Billy lolls his head against one of Steve’s thighs. Scrapes down at the bottom of the bag with his dust-caked fingers and huffs when he comes up empty-handed.

“I bet it was untamable,” Steve says fondly. Chuckles as he watches Billy suck a cluster of orange away from the pad of one of his fingers. “I wish I could’ve met you when you were a kid. If you were anything like how you are now, I bet we would’ve been inseparable.”

“You would’ve gotten sick of me in about ten minutes.”

Steve tsks, but keeps toying with Billy’s hair where it spills into his lap. Starts gathering sections to fasten it into a braid for about the tenth time since they’ve been sitting here.

Ever since Robin showed him how a few nights ago, he’s been fixated on becoming a pro for whatever reason.

Probably so he can braid his daughter’s hair someday.

The thought makes Billy’s face flush with a familiar heat. It’s not the first time he’s thought about Steve’s — their future — like that. Their furniture together. It’s not even the first time today that he’s thought about it.

“I mean, I could tolerate Tommy, so I think we’d have been fine,” Steve says. “He was a crier. Could never take hits even when he was the first to start shit, and then he’d go tell, and I’d always get the ass-whooping.”

Steve shakes his head. Sighs to himself and tucks a stray curl behind Billy’s ear.

“Dunno if you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly stoic,” Billy muses.

“You get what I mean, though. We would’ve had a fucking blast together as kids.” As soon as Steve finishes the braid, he unwinds it gently from the tail up. Combs his fingers through it thereafter and brushes one of his hands over Billy’s cheek. “What made you cut it?”

Billy tilts his head back, staring upside down at Steve while another hand comes to swipe his bangs away from his face. There’s an easy smile playing on the brunet’s lips.

���My old man took me to a barber shop a little bit before my fifth birthday.”

Steve’s smile falters.

“Yeah?”

“Mm.” Billy’s eyes slip shut, and he focuses on the warm palms touching his skin. Careful enough to be handling porcelain. “Got in trouble, so he dragged me there and had it all buzzed off.”

“That’s… drastic. What did you do?”

“Dunno.”

“You don’t remember?”

Billy huffs. He kind of wants to laugh, because everything his dad has ever done is hilarious when set in the past tense. The screaming, the veins popping out in his neck, the look on his face.

But then something else wells in his chest at the thought, and it isn’t funny.

“All I remember is crying my eyes out in that chair. Probably got into my mom’s lipstick or some shit, it didn’t take much to set him off.”

“He was probably just jealous of your pretty curls,” Steve says softly. It brings a small smile to Billy’s face. “Seriously though, I’m sorry he… I’m sorry you had to experience that. You don’t cut a kid’s hair as punishment.”

Near the end, his voice gets a bit stern, and Billy feels the sun simmering under his skin. Burning through his pores and shining light up into Steve’s face like rays of sunshine through parted clouds.

You’d make a good dad.

Billy wants more than anything to say it, but his lips form around something else when he parts them.

“We would’ve been fast friends if we met as kids,” he says.

“I don’t need another friend.” Steve’s face flushes with pink realization when Billy opens his eyes, and he quickly shakes his head. “I wouldn’t have needed— I had lots of friends, so I would’ve—” Steve cuts himself off with a sigh and pinches his eyes shut for a moment. “We would have held hands, y’know? Had sleepovers up in my treehouse, just the two of us.”

Billy can’t even begin to suppress the blossoming grin on his face.

“I never considered that little Stevie was a player too.”

“Shut up, you know what I mean.”

“Well, in that case, I’m glad we didn’t meet as kids. Neil would’ve just taken that from me too.”

The brunet sobers. Rubs his thumb over the apple of Billy’s cheek.

“You don’t know that.”

“Sure I do.” Billy turns his face towards his partner’s open hand, smiling as he presses a kiss to the soft skin of his palm. “Just like I know that in every universe, every hypothetical situation, Neil will be an asshole, I know that there’s no timeline where I don’t love you at first sight.”

Steve, ever the romantic, presses his lips together as a chapped red overtakes his cheeks. Billy sits up on his knees and turns around to lean into Steve’s lap at the first sign of tears.

He hugs his torso. Buries his face into Steve’s t-shirt and squeezes him when he sniffles.

“I’m glad we met when we did,” Billy adds. “When we both really needed it.”

Slender arms wrap around him, cradling him closer, and Steve’s chest echoes with a chuckle.

“When I needed another ass-kicking.”

“No— you know what I mean, you dork.”

“I do.” Steve strokes his hair, and Billy melts further into him. Feels, for a moment, like he’s five years old again and hugging his mother at the beach. “I’m just happy we met at all,” he says. “But I’m confident that it had to happen no matter what. Even if we were ninety and using walkers.”

Billy chuckles at that. Imagines, instead, the two of them growing old together. Here in this home that they’ve made for themselves, with their latest set of grandchildren running a muck.

He thinks he’d be willing to learn to like kids for that.

“As if either of us will make it to ninety,” he muses.

“Hey, shut up, we’re both living to a hundred and twenty because I said so.”

Steve tugs gently on his hair, prompting him to tilt his head back and look up. The brunet has the fondest look on his face, like he’s found spiritual enlightenment in Billy’s eyes.

Billy thinks he knows the feeling.

“Kay,” he says.

“It’s nice out right now.”

Fuck if either of them know if that’s true. All they know right now, all that exists in this moment, is each other.

“Mm, you wanna go for a walk?” Billy hums.

A huge smile blossoms over Steve’s face. He pushes his fingers through Billy’s hair one last time, cupping his cheek and letting the blond lean into his touch.

“Sure. I have to go change my shirt, though, because I’m pretty sure you got Dorito dust all over it.”

Billy snorts. Sure enough, when he raises his hand into view, his fingertips are still stained orange. Steve just smiles at him before they both get overwhelmed by giggles.

I’m glad I met you.

[hyperfixingfr]

@kndrules said I should talk about the Hoagie shutdown HCs for hours so that's my excuse for doing such (CW for S/H and some brief abuse & addiction mentions)

Hoagie is more quiet than his teammates. That's kind of something people don't notice because the way he's quiet is kind of different because of his neurodivergence. Yes, he talks. Yes, he socializes. But the way in which he does these things is very obviously a quiet kid. He lets other people lead conversations. He tends to follow the actions of others. He talks excessively if you let him, but the moment someone shows any form of rejection or disapproval of it, he stops talking. He stays behind everyone else, or at least behind the "leader" of the scene. And overall, his personality would cause some pretty obvious outcasting from groups in school. But these are some pretty boring aspects of canon and it's hardly ever thought about, so I'm gonna expand upon it.

Hoagie shuts down fast and he shuts down OFTEN. He's rejection sensitive. Now, he's not oblivious. If Wally says something like, "you're so stupid!" he takes it as a joke. The issue is if Wally used a tone that was *off* from his normal joke tones. Intentionally or not, a different tone in any way. Those words would start to ring in Hoagie's ears. He starts to overthink, and of course - shutdown. Anything he was saying prior to this, he'd slowly fade the conversation out and eventually stop talking or responding. He'd try to get himself to a secluded area as soon as he could, to prevent attention being drawn to him. He does a really good job with fading out from conversation because no one knows it's happening until he tells them. They just think he got bored and left.

Like I said, this happens often. Nigel scolding him, him getting bullied at school, Abby ignoring him to focus on work. The list goes on. He's too scared to express how these things make him feel, so he has a shutdown just about every day. His family further encourages this behavior by rewarding silence and scolding him for speaking. Tommy experiences the same stuff, but confidence boosts from Hoagie prevent Tommy from shutting down and staying silent when he's being mistreated. Hoagie never had anyone to stand up for him, though... At least, not after their dad died. He was the only one who tried to stand up for him.

He does a lot of hiding due to his environment at home. His shutdowns always result in him locking himself away and trying to get people to focus on someone else if they try to see what's up. He doesn't have any good coping mechanisms so, to try and "get it over with" he cuts (something he learned about on the early internet). After that, he'll go on to use an actual healthy coping skill like working on his projects or spending time with someone (once he finds his voice again). He feels a lot of guilt for it but because he hides his emotions, it takes a while for people to figure out what's going on and help him out.

In any situation causing distress and self confidence issues, Hoagie will shut down. It tends to happen with raised voices the most, though. If they're away from the treehouse on a mission somewhere and won't be going back for a while, he'll disappear wherever possible. He even becomes known for it, at least to Nigel. Unfortunately, Hoagie has a razor with a seal guard to protect the fabric in his pocket at all times, so he still engages with harmful mechanisms even when away from the treehouse. He put it there for that very reason, but it does double as a good tool if he's in trouble and caught in something... I guess

His shutdowns were a major part of his life from 10-13. They caused loneliness, a lack of help and support, and further fear. Not to mention the harm it caused to his arms because of how he decided to deal with it every time it happened.

On the bright side, Abby and Wally eventually realized things were going on. Wally wasn't much help in his teen years because he fell down the same hole of depression that Hoagie did especially during high school where he was forced to be misgendered, but he helped whenever sane enough to do so. It started off with Abby getting a bit concerned by his tendencies to slip off after Hoagie had mention he loves listening to conversations normally. She tried to be discrete when asking him things about the shutdowns, until they were on a mission away from the treehouse and Abby asked Hoagie if he had anything like scissors to cut something off an old file. She was handed the "infamous stained razor" and of course, freaked the fuck out on him. Not to scare him or anything, but it kind of did since she started asking a bunch of questions he didn't think he'd ever be asked as she paced around anxiously, hitting herself on the head and preventing him from even getting CLOSE to the razor he'd lended her. After that she started being more nosey about his shutdowns. She refused to let him suffer from them as much as he did because she knew he didn't have to. Over time, she managed to understand the signs of shutdowns. Wally did, too. If either of them are around when his shutdown starts, they immediately identify it and follow him off to wherever he ends up going. This soon turned to them actively being found by Hoagie during his shutdowns, and given a simple hand signal to let them know he shut down and needs to be watched over in a safe environment (since by this time at 13-14 he's suffering from genuine addiction to harm, and needs supervision when at risk). They tend to haul him off to a nice, cozy place in the treehouse. There, they'll do whatever Hoagie pleases. He doesn't speak, but he'll make it clear what he wants to do. He'll drop playing cards in front of them, he'll turn on the TV and cling to their sides, sometimes he'll just fall asleep or cuddle up in their arms. His shutdowns became far less stressful and dangerous after Abby and Wally found ways for him to shut down and then unwind in a safe environment. In late teen years Wally became incapable and even unsafe to be around at certain points due to doing the exact same harmful things Hoagie did at that time but Abby still helped keep him safe whenever possible and, in rare instances Wally would be able to when he wasn't unsafe. Abby also did searches of both of Hoagie's rooms (with his permission) every month to cleanse the area of harmful stuff so he couldn't hurt himself even if he didn't properly identify a shutdown and seek help for it. She came out of there with a looot of different things she didn't even know could be used. She disposed of them in secret locations and soon enough she wasn't finding anything in his rooms, which meant his shutdowns were either being had with his trusted partners, or he was capable of having a shutdown all alone without harm being caused. That part kind of goes beyond that point and he does have (even worse) problems still but that doesn't really correlate with his shutdowns so that's for anyone who's interested in his problems with addictions which I'll talk about if people are interested

[creepedverse]

Oi, what's the gang’s retrospective theme songs?? -🟦

Dia: Ruthlessness by Jorge Rivera-Herrans

Tobin: Teenagers by MCR 🔥

Joy: “Fall Away” by Twenty One Pilots

Shannon: Hey Bunny by Baby Bugs

Tali: Sex Metal Barbie by In This Moment or Brand New City by Mitski

scout: philadelphia ii by cbmc orr treehouse cover by kelseydog

bonnie: growing/dying by the backseat lovers

tommie: malmo by mook

Nico: either carmen by lana del rey, michelle by sir chloe, or brand new city by mitski . she has a lot!

[sjsmith56]

Hope, Chapter 15 - Eyes of the Father

Summary: It’s been five years since the Blip and Lacey is still on the farm. When she receives word that there is a plan to bring everyone back she begins to hope.

Length: 4.9 K

Characters: Lacey, Terry, Tommy, the Bartons, Natasha, Steve, Bucky, Sharon Carter.

Warnings: Loss of friends. Bucky is delayed before he comes to the farm, causing issues for Lacey and Tommy.

Author notes: This takes place during The Avengers: End Game.

<<Chapter 14

🫰🚜

Four years later

Tommy Chapman wrote down the last spelling word and looked at his mother. "That was a hard word," he said. "Are you sure that was grade 3 level?"

"It was grade 5 level," she stated, looking over his sheet. "You spelled it right just like all the other grade 5 level words I've ever given you. You're smart, Tommy. Don't ever forget that."

"What's the point of being smart if I'm stuck here all the time?" he asked. "Couldn't I go to regular school and at least have some friends?"

Lacey sighed. "We've talked about this. It's not safe."

"For me or for the other kids? I wouldn't use my strength against anyone, Mom. Ever. I wouldn't be a bully."

"I know," she agreed. "You're a good kid. But all it would take is one slip up and someone could say something to the wrong person. You know there were a couple of men asking about me in town, right? If they see you they'll know whose son you are because you look just like your dad."

The boy's face turned red. Five years since his Dad was killed by Thanos and there were still people looking for his mom, because they figured out she had Bucky Barnes' child. Why couldn't they just leave them alone? He got up off the chair and went to the door.

"I'm going to the treehouse," he said. "I want to be alone."

She nodded her assent and walked to the door, watching as he ran to the other side of the property in seconds. It wasn't fair, she knew, but Phil Coulson had figured the CIA were looking again, especially since she published her third book. Once they knew she hadn't turned to dust they started searching for her again. Terry walked in from the barn.

"What's wrong with Tommy?" he asked. "He left here in a hurry."

"He asked about going to regular school again," she answered. "He's lonely for kids his own age."

"Which he can't because of the two men asking about you in town," said Terry. "I feel for him."

"When he was little he had Nathaniel Barton," said Lacey. "It helped him and they had such fun together. Fuck, I hate what Thanos did. No one's happy because nearly everyone lost a loved one. Nothing's been the same since."

"It brought us closer," noted Terry. "Just saying, little sister."

Lacey smiled. "It did. About the only good thing to come out of it."

A text message on her phone alerted her and she took off out of the house yelling for Tommy. Terry ran to catch up.

"What is it?" he yelled as he ran behind her.

"Someone trying to enter the property," she called back. "Wong got an alert from the protection spell he put on the perimeter."

Tommy appeared and ran to her. "What?" he asked.

"We have to go to the house, now," she said. "Someone is trying to get onto the property."

They ran back and entered the house where Lacey texted back. A portal opened and Wong beckoned them through then he laid a spell on the property, making it look abandoned and stepped back into the portal, closing it behind him. Lacey, Tommy, and Terry found themselves at the base of a grand staircase in a building. Wong looked at them.

"Welcome to the New York Sanctum," he said in his understated way. "That was close. I've made it look like the farm is abandoned. Unless they have a sorcerer with them they shouldn't be able to tell it's a spell. Let's see who they are."

He brought up another portal that remained invisible on the other side and they watched a dark SUV entering the property from the highway. It pulled up to the driveway between the barn and the house and two men got out. Both were armed with handguns and had them drawn as they looked through the property. Then they returned to the vehicle and the rear passenger door opened. A woman got out but her face was covered by a hood.

"I thought you said that she lived here, with a blue eyed boy," the woman said to one of the men. "This place looks abandoned."

The man she addressed looked embarrassed. "He must have lied," he replied. "I could go back and shake him down. She picks up her mail at the post office in another town nearby. We could take her there."

"Don't bother," said the woman. "My SHIELD contact said she's very protective of the boy. We would have to take both of them alive to make either of them cooperate."

Lacey looked at Wong in alarm. "She has a SHIELD contact who told her about me and Tommy?" she whispered. "What the hell? Who told her in town that I lived there and that I picked up my mail at the post office?"

"Let me get a close up of her licence plate," said Wong and he read it out loud as a pen and paper pad appeared out of nowhere to write it down.

The woman walked into the house and looked around, checking out the books. She stopped and looked at a particular one, pulling it off the shelf before putting it back next to a picture. Wong focussed the portal on the book and Lacey gasped, as it was her third book and it was next to a picture of Clint and his family, from the day the photographer came to take her author picture for her second book. Then the woman turned and left the house, lowering her hood before she got back into the SUV. Wong used magic to take a picture of her and they watched as the men got back in and the vehicle left the farm.

"We need to show this to someone," he said. "I'm reluctant to show it to anyone at SHIELD in case they're compromised. Who else do you trust?"

"Natasha," said Lacey, without hesitation.

"Not Steve Rogers, or Colonel Rhodes or Phil Coulson?" asked Wong.

"She's a beautiful woman," replied Lacey. "They might not see past that. Natasha is ... incorruptible."

"Okay," declared Wong. "Let's see where Miss Romanoff is."

Wong waved his arms around in the air, bringing up all sorts of shapes and diagrams of light. Tommy watched, entranced at the process. Then Wong gave a grim smile and opened another portal which they all went through. It opened into a ballet studio where a solitary person was practicing at the barre. She saw the portal opening behind her via the mirror and turned around to face them.

"Well, you know my secret," said Natasha. "I do this to work off anxiety. I've been here a lot lately. What's so important that you had to portal in?"

"Someone came onto the farm, with guns, looking for me and Tommy," said Lacey. "She knew about us. Said her SHIELD contact told her about us."

Lacey handed Natasha the picture and the Black Widow looked up in alarm. "She was there with armed people looking for you? Did she say anything?"

"That both Lacey and Tommy would have to be taken alive for them both to cooperate," replied Terry. "You know her."

"I do know her," said Natasha grimly. "Did you tell Steve or the others about this?"

"No, I figured you were the one who would be least impressed by a pretty face," said Lacey. "Who is she?"

"Sharon Carter," said Natasha. "Former SHIELD agent who joined the CIA then went underground after she helped Steve, Sam, and Bucky get out of Berlin. We thought she disappeared in the Blip."

"She knows it was Clint's farm as well," said Lacey. "She went into the house and looked at the books on the bookshelf, picked out my third one then noticed it was next to a picture of Clint and the family."

"Damn, it might not be safe to stay there anymore. If someone from SHIELD talked to her they might not know she's switched sides. Because I'm pretty sure that's what's happened." Natasha took a deep breath, then looked at Wong. "Can they stay temporarily at the Sanctum?"

"Yes," he said hesitantly. "But they could be affected by the magic going on there."

"I know," she replied. "I have to figure something out and find out who told her about Lacey and Tommy. Give me a day."

Wong also gave Natasha the licence plate information and opened another portal to the Sanctum. He escorted them to a room then used magic to turn it into a hotel suite of two bedrooms, one with two beds and one with a single bed.

"You can stay here tonight," he said. "I'll come get you for dinner later. You can look out the windows as they are invisible to the outside. I will send one of you with a sorcerer to the house to get some clothes later. Want to make sure that no one returns there first."

"Thank you, Wong," said Lacey, gratefully.

"Hmmm," was his answer and he made himself scarce.

Later, after dinner Terry went with a sorcerer and came back with a backpack jammed with clothes for each of them. He also brought Lacey's laptop. Wong promised that a couple of sorcerers would monitor the farm to make sure Carter and her gunmen didn't return. The following morning there was a knock at the door of their suite. Wong called through to say it was him.  He was followed by Natasha and Coulson. Lacey stood up and placed herself in front of Tommy.

"I don't blame you for not trusting me," said Coulson, raising his hands in surrender. "This is on me, completely. We ran the licence plate of the SUV and checked traffic cam files. It was one of the two vehicles that followed us after your Mother's funeral. It means Carter has been looking for you for some time. She was someone that Nick Fury trusted when she was at SHIELD but it appears she went underground and became involved with a criminal known as the Power Broker in Madripoor. We think she's been selling SHIELD and CIA secrets to him while staying completely off the radar."

"Why would she want me and Tommy?" asked Lacey.

"There was a rumour the Power Broker wanted an army of super soldiers to be his enforcers," said Coulson. "We've been trying to verify it but when I asked Sharon about it when I last saw her she said he lost his top scientist in the Blip and wasn't working on it anymore. She brought up keeping Bucky Barnes' kid safe so the Power Broker couldn't get to him and use his blood to create more serum. I should have asked her how she knew but instead, like an idiot I said he and his mother were safe. Then I said how protective you were of him. I shouldn't have trusted that she was still loyal to SHIELD. I assumed she had advised the Avengers she didn't disappear in the Blip. That was my mistake and I'm sorry."

"So what are you going to do about her?" asked Lacey angrily. "We've lived on that farm for almost 9 years without a problem. Now, suddenly, we're homeless."

"We're going to find her and arrest her," promised Coulson. "As for the farm ... I think you can go back there. We have some technology that can disguise your faces. Natasha has used it before. We have a couple of shape shifting Inhumans that can impersonate you elsewhere and keep her people running in circles."

"Not good enough," said Lacey. "Do you know who in town told her we lived at the farm?"

Natasha looked away then at Coulson and shrugged. "It was a farmer that sells you straw bales," said Coulson. "Jack Manning."

"I'll kill him," blurted Lacey. "I will literally kill him. He already charges me more than he does other farmers. Then he doesn't even put them in the barn, leaving it for us to do."

"We can take care of him," said Coulson. "Mac has volunteered to make an official visit to him. You know how intense he can be. I'll be with him as well and together we will make him regret ever saying anything. Unfortunately we can't do much more because officially the farm doesn't exist and neither do you."

"There's one other thing," said Natasha. "I wasn't supposed to say anything but I think you need to know. We may have a chance to reverse the Snap. I can't say much more about how but we rounded up all the remaining Avengers to make it happen. We're going to bring everyone back. If we succeed you need to be at the farm for when Laura and the kids return."

"When?" asked Lacey. "When will you do this?"

"Tomorrow to get the stones then the reversal the next day," replied Natasha. "I already found Clint. Bruce convinced Thor. We're getting the stones and then we'll reverse the Snap and make sure that no one who was born since then is lost. Everyone that was killed because of the Snap itself will return. So go back to the farm and when Laura returns you get her to call Clint so that he knows she's back."

Natasha started crying and Lacey hugged her, then cupped Nat's face between her hands as she nodded her head. She agreed to go back to the farm that day. After breakfast, Wong confirmed there were no further incursions on the farm. He opened a portal to it so Terry, Lacey and Tommy could walk through to the farm as they had left it before Wong put the abandoned spell on it. They all wore the electronic masks that Coulson gave them earlier. It changed their hair, eye colour and faces completely. They wore them throughout the day and only took them off when they went to bed. The following day they wore them again. It was mid afternoon when Laura, Lila, Cooper, and Nathaniel suddenly reappeared out near the picnic table. Lacey disengaged the mask and ran to Laura, hugging her hard.

"Do you have your phone?" she demanded. "Call Clint, right now."

"What happened?" asked Laura.  "Where's Clint?  We were having a picnic."

"I'll tell you but you have to phone Clint right now," said Lacey, beginning to cry. "Please just do it."

Laura pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialled Clint. It rang several times, then she heard his voice. He said "Honey" twice then the call was dropped and she looked at Lacey, confused.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked, then she looked beyond Lacey to where Tommy had run up, his nano mask in his hand. "Why is Tommy older? And who is he?"

She pointed at Terry. Lacey held her again for a few moments. "You've been gone for 5 years," she said. "There was a battle against an extraterrestrial in Wakanda and he had the power that allowed him to snap half of the world's population out of existence. You, Lila, Cooper and Nathaniel turned to dust. Clint went off the deep end and left me here. This is Terry, my older brother. He came to live with me and provide what protection he could. Tommy is now almost 8 years old. Your kids are the same age as when they disappeared."

Laura dialled Clint again but it went to voice mail and she looked at her phone with frustration. "Why doesn't he answer?" she asked.

Lacey's phone rang and she answered it. "Wong!" she exclaimed. "Laura Barton and her kids are back. What's going on?" She listened for a moment. "What? How? What are you going to do?" With wide eyes she looked at Laura as she relayed Wong's message. "The extraterrestrial, Thanos, is back and he just destroyed Avengers headquarters. The sorcerers are trying to gather all the soldiers and Avengers who reappeared and re-arm them. Then they're all going to the battlefield. Come on, it should be on TV."

They all ran to the house and turned the TV on. Most of the channels had news helicopters filming from the sky. It was chaotic as they had to avoid being shot at themselves. Through the smoke and fires they both saw that the Avengers compound was completely destroyed. The immense size of Thanos' spacecraft as well as the creatures that came out of it running rampant over the destruction was frightening. On the TV they saw Thanos, with his army, standing off against Iron Man, Thor and Captain America. It looked like once again Thanos would defeat them then all sorts of portals began opening behind the three Avengers and more Avengers came out, then other armies of humans, and aliens. In the sky portals opened and strange flying craft appeared. Tommy stood beside Lacey watching all of this then touched her arm.

"Is Dad alive?" he asked, hopefulness tinging his voice.

She looked at him then hugged him hard. "Yes, he's alive, somewhere there," she said, almost crying. "Now he has to fight again along with all the others."

They watched it all for hours; the back and forth, the wave after wave of attacks, the destruction of Thanos' spacecraft then came word that the alien invader had been defeated but at a cost, as Tony Stark had perished after successfully snapping Thanos and his forces out of existence. Both Laura and Lacey cried when that was announced. As the smoke cleared from the battlefield the news helicopters that were still flying showed the extent of the death and destruction. More portals were opened allowing many of the participants in the battle to return to their homes.   Nothing was heard from the Avengers and the women wondered if there had been more deaths not announced.

The following morning a quinjet flew over the house drawing the attention of the Barton kids as they ran out to the yard, approaching it after it landed. Clint came down the ramp and joyfully hugged his kids then seeing Laura walking across their yard went to her and kissed his wife tenderly. Lacey, who hoped Bucky was with him came up after with a questioning look.

"He wanted to come but there were some important things that he and Steve had to do first," said Clint. "He plans to turn himself in as well."

"Bucky said before that he was going to do that," replied Lacey. "I just wish he came to meet Tommy in person, first."

"There's one other thing," said Clint. "Natasha ... she didn't make it. She was killed before the battle while we were acquiring the stones. She's gone."

"Shit," whispered Lacey and she began to cry then she looked anxiously at Clint. "Did she tell you about Sharon Carter before she died?"

"No, what about her?" asked Clint.

"She came here looking for me and Tommy, with a couple of gunmen," said Lacey. "She works for a criminal called the Power Broker."

Clint grabbed Lacey's arm and pulled her away. "That's impossible," he said quietly so Laura and the kids wouldn't hear. "I killed him, in Madripoor, a year ago. When was this?"

"A few days ago," said Lacey, just as quietly. "Phil Coulson told her about me and Tommy, believing her to still be loyal to SHIELD. Turns out she's been looking for us all along. I don't think you killed the real Power Broker, Clint. Coulson said there is a rumour the Power Broker wants super soldiers for his own personal army."

"You're sure it was her?" he asked. "She was SHIELD then she joined the CIA after the HYDRA files were released. She helped Steve, Sam and Bucky get out of Berlin."

"You can ask Wong and Coulson if you don't believe me," said Lacey, angrily. "Her men talked to Jack Manning. He told them Tommy and I were here at the farm. They showed up here with guns to take us by force. Thank God Wong had a protection spell on the place. It gave us enough warning for him to portal us to the Sanctum in New York."

Clint looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry," he said, ashamed. "I should never have left you here unprotected. Losing Laura and the kids made me spiral and I lost it. You kept my farm going and I owe you so much for that."

He watched Lacey's face as all sorts of emotions played across it. "I don't know what to do," she finally admitted. "I thought for sure that Bucky would come with you. All along he's said he wants to be with us and instead he stays to talk with Steve?"

"I'm sure you were part of the conversation," replied Clint, trying to soothe her. "Look, he's been gone for 5 years and when they reappeared they were thrown right back into the fight. He's still getting his bearings. They both know that you're here. Give him a chance."

She nodded and watched as Clint returned to his family. Both Terry and Tommy came to her and watched the happy reunion. Taking Tommy by the hand she walked towards his treehouse while Terry followed. When they got there she looked at them both.

"I thought Bucky would come with Clint but he stayed to do some things with Steve," said Lacey, sombrely. "He also plans to turn himself in. I don't know what's going to happen with any of it."

She opened her mouth to speak some more but nothing came out except sobs as she began to cry. Tommy hugged her and Terry put his arm around her shoulders. It was hard for both of them to watch this woman who had been strong for so long break down in front of them. An hour later it was Terry who looked up to see two men walking across the pasture towards them. One he recognized as Steve and the other, with long dark hair and a beard was unknown to him but with a start he realized it was likely Bucky.

"Stay here," he said to Tommy, as he stood up and began walking towards them.

"Terry, this is Bucky Barnes," said Steve when they were just a few feet apart.

Terry punched Bucky in the face, catching him off guard. It staggered him and Bucky touched his cheek in response.

"That's for making my sister cry," said Terry angrily. "You don't deserve her or Tommy. She expected you hours ago but it was more important for you to have a talk with him first?"

"Terry, that's my fault," said Steve, putting his hand on Terry's arm. "He wanted to come right away but I needed to talk to him first for my own reasons. Don't be angry with him. Be angry with me."

Terry shook off Steve's hand and still glared at Bucky. "I agree," said Bucky quietly. "I don't deserve her or Tommy. You've been on your own taking care of them while I was dust. That's something I likely will never be able to repay. I'm just asking that you let me see her and my son now. Please."

With a grimace Terry stepped aside and stood with Steve while Bucky walked towards the treehouse. As he got closer he could feel his anxiety level increase when Tommy stepped protectively in front of Lacey, glaring at Bucky with anger in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," said Bucky to the boy. "I should have come here sooner with Clint. You're right to be angry with me. I thought a few hours wouldn't make much difference but I was wrong."

"You made Mom cry," accused Tommy. "We've been here waiting for you my whole life. We needed you."

"Do you want to hit me?" asked Bucky. "You're welcome to do it. So many things have kept me away that I couldn't overcome and instead of coming right away when I could I put my best friend first instead of the woman I love and the son she gave me. So if hitting me will help you get over how much you hate me right now then hit away. I can take it."

Tommy approached Bucky and took a fighting stance, looking angrily at the man he had loved through their conversations on a computer screen. Bucky kneeled impassively waiting for his son to act. Then he saw the tears forming in Tommy's eyes and pulled him into his arms, enveloping him in an embrace.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, feeling all sorts of emotions as he held his son for the first time. "I should have been here sooner but I'm here now."

He continued to hold Tommy for a long time until the boy stopped crying then Bucky looked fondly at his son's face, touching his hair and cheeks. Tommy looked back at his mother, stepping aside as she stood up and faced Bucky who now stood before her with his head bowed. Lacey's eyes were red and puffy. She was sniffing loudly and wiped her nose with the back of her hand, having nothing else on hand. Neither of them said a word for the longest time. Then Bucky reached out with his flesh hand and gently touched Lacey's cheek.

"I still love you," he whispered. "Do you still love me?"

"No, I hate you," she replied quickly. "I hate that for five years I couldn't see your stupid face on my phone. I hate your beard and your long hair. I hate that you chose to fight a crazy alien instead of being here with us. Most of all I hate that it's not over because you're going to turn yourself in and probably go to jail instead of running away to another country with me and Tommy, and living a life on the run. I hate all of it ...."

"No you don't," said Bucky gently, stepping closer and putting his arm around her waist to draw her in closer. "You love me. You missed me. I'll cut my hair and my beard. You know that I had to fight. Just like you know that I'm done with running. We're almost there, Lacey ... almost at the point where we can be a family. We just have to go through a little more separation, a little more long distance relationship, and a little more loneliness so that we can have a lifetime together."

As he spoke Bucky lowered his face closer to her so that by the time he finished speaking his lips were just inches from hers. When their lips finally met her arms went around him as tightly as his did around her. After they broke apart Bucky looked for Tommy and put his arm out to him so he could hold them both. Steve patted Terry on the back.

"Let's give them some alone time," he said. "They have a lot of catching up to do."

"He still doesn't deserve them," muttered Terry but he went with Steve.

Bucky sat in the treehouse, looking with emotion at both Lacey and Tommy, still not quite believing that they were finally together. "We have a couple of days here before Tony Stark's memorial," he said. "Then Steve has to take some things back to the past so the timeline isn't affected. Bruce and Rocket are rebuilding the time machine that Thanos destroyed so once that's ready he's going. I am turning myself in but the lawyer has already negotiated a conditional pardon for me. It means I have to live in the New York area for a while while I undergo a psychiatric assessment then therapy to make sure I'm not a psychotic killer. I would like it if you lived with me there but things might be hectic for a while with court appearances and such so if you can stay here or even buy another farm then that would be better. It would keep you out of the public eye because there are still people who don't think I should be free."

"I haven't talked to Clint or Laura yet," said Lacey. "Maybe I should look at another farm but it was something I kind of wanted to do together as a family."

"I want to go to school," stated Tommy. "Real school, with a teacher."

"I've been homeschooling him," explained Lacey. "It was safer but he's been lonely for friends his own age."

"Once I'm done all of my legal commitments I'll protect you both," said Bucky. "Tommy can go to real school then. Terry, that's your brother right? He can still live with us but I don't think he likes me."

"Don't worry about him," replied Lacey. "He was just being protective. He'll come around."

She took Bucky's hands in her own. Tommy put his hands on theirs and they all smiled with anticipation at each other. For now they were together. There were still going to be some issues for a while but they all knew that a life together was coming. They just had to get through some things first.

Chapter 16>>

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